Hyperspace Part 2
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: AU. Enterprise's journey continues, in the Delta Quadrant.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer - I own neither Star Trek nor the other science fiction shows I borrowed pieces from, but I do own the hyperspace engine idea. If you want to use it, please ask me. Secondly, whilst I've had positive reviews from Hyperspace - The journey, I've had in the past negative reviews, including one where the only word was a racist term, used more than once in the review in question. **

**If you want to review stories then write your own, see how you like it. Otherwise you'll find this site to be a desert with no fresh ideas. **

**Ending Rant. **

**Hyperspace - Part 2. **

_2252. _

Captain Jonathon Archer, captain of Starfleet's NX class flagship, NX - 01 Enterprise, was staring out of his viewport as Enterprise orbited the planet they were surveying, had been surveying for the past few days. Sitting in his ready room, Archer was simply catching up on the latest news from Earth and Starfleet cartography, Starfleet Science and Starfleet Engineering. It had been a year since NX - 01 - 04 had arrived in the Delta quadrant, and in that year the number of aliens, worlds and technologies that had been encountered and catalogued had risen in all four directions. So far they hadn't encountered any hostile races, but as they moved deeper and deeper into the quadrant arms of the galaxy the fleet were exploring, it was only a matter of time before they met a serious threat. It had happened.

He'd heard reports that the Gamma Quadrant crew had encountered a hostile empire known as the Dominion, and so far the Dominion had been defeated by the sheer power of Starfleet's finest, samples of their ships and their genetically engineering super soldiers, the Jem' Hadar had been sent for analysis to Facility 4. Archer wasn't worried, he was a long way from there, and he knew the Gamma Quadrant wasn't all hostile, that some of it wasn't even touched by this Dominion.

The Jem'Hadar had already proven themselves to be vicious and merciless, but so too was Starfleet technology. Archer was grateful for that, just as he was grateful for the alternate technologies picked up by Facility 4, like the Defiant for instance. Their advanced weapons kept them off balance.

Archer hoped that Starfleet was able to reach out the hand of friendship to them, but somehow he doubted it. From what they knew already the Dominion was a beligerant organisation, and if it came to war, they'd be able to throw warships and soldiers without breaking sweat, but Starfleet with hyperdrive technology, would pack a stronger punch, especially when the tactical analysis was finished.

Archer also took the time to think about the crew of his ship, and he could honestly say he was proud of them. Trip had worked miracles time and time again, and he loved every logged hour tinkering with the engines and the alien technologies they came across.

Travis Mayweather's skill with the helm was now legendary, and Archer was proud of him and his expertise, which had helped more times than they could count.

Hoshi Sato was more or less out of her shell, and working to understand the various cultures of languages. Archer had to smile, everytime he saw her study languages, see her grin, her twinkling eyes...he had to grin at the enthusiasm for learning something new.

Archer's smile faded somewhat as he thought to himself about his tactical officer. Malcom Reed was highly recommended when he'd looked through the files on selection of tactical. Reed had Maco training to go with his skills, honed by experience of fighting in the Kzinti conflict. But Reed wasn't a social man, sure Archer had tried to get him to talk but Reed was of the school that believed the captain should be a step or two above his crew.

Archer didn't believe that. He believed that if you were going to serve with anyone, be they captain, helm, tactical, chef or engineer, for long periods of time, and it was a given fact that Starfleet expected the NX program to last for a long, long time. The last thing Archer wanted was a tactiturn and socially stunted officer aboard. He wanted the equivalent of friendships, akin to a family.

Shaking his head, Archer had decided to keep Reed at arms length, but he wasn't going to hesitate in talking to him on occasion whether he liked it or not.

Then came his science officer. Archer's face split into a small smile at the thought of T'Pol. It was clear that a year of working and living with humans on a starship had done wonders for her. She was still haughty, but she was looser with her arrogance. She now had a dry sense of humour; Archer had no idea if that had been because of him and his crew, or simply if she'd had it all the time and he'd never seen it because she was busy suppressing it.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Try and guess the puzzle in this story. I'll give you a clue, it's ironic. **_

**Hyperspace - Part 2. **

**The Vidiians. Part 1. **

" Captain," Malcom Reed looked up from his readouts.

" Yes, lieutenant?" Archer asked, turning in his chair.

" We're getting a contact. It's a ship, travelling at warp 4.6." Reed announced.

Archer looked at the viewscreen. There was nothing there, not yet. Enterprise had moved into a new grid to start surveying. There was no need for any of the NX fleet to rush. It was expected for them to spend some time surveying the sector of space. Since they had superior faster than light drives they could spend decades out here exploring without the need to worry themselves about not returning home.

" What kind of ship is it?" Archer asked.

Reed's eyes were firmly fixed to his screens, like they were glued to them. " It's a small ship, minimal weapons. Automatic defence grid has come online, shield and armour generators are charging up."

The automatic defence grid had come about years ago, when the first ships powered by the hyperdrive left Earth. The grid was automated and separate from the rest of the computer systems. In fact it was impossible to connect the two of them. Many officers in Starfleet owed their lives to the system. It had seen plenty of use and plenty of appreciation during the skirmishes with the Klingons, the Romulans and the Dominion.

Archer sometimes believed the system had been created by paranoid delusionists who believed that every alien was hostile, but he had to admit the system did a good job.

He nodded before he turned to T'Pol. " What do you make of it?"

A year ago, T'Pol's rational and emotionless calm had been the bane of his existence, but now it was godsend. Even if the bridge was exploding all around them, Archer was sure T'Pol would keep calm in the midst of certain death.

Smoothly, the Vulcan science officer turned to look into her scanner. " It's a small ship, I estimate it's top speed is warp 5. There are two aliens on board the ship, both unconscious. The ship seems set for automatic."

" Can we override the automatic control?"

T'Pol's answer was immediate. " Yes, but Captain, the risks are probably too great. They may be dangerous."

Reed was checking his own scanners. " We'll know soon subcommander, captain," he looked up at the two senior officers. " They've slowed down. They've dropped to sublight."

" Could they be preparing to attack?"

Reed shook his head. " I don't believe so sir, the life scans indicate the aliens are still unconscious."

* * *

The small ship hovered in space as Enterprise bore down on it. Using its computers, Enterprise was able to override the propulsion systems and brought the smaller ship into a full stop. Since the computers between the two ships were linked, Enterprise downloaded a copy of the entire database for analysis, and for lingual studies for the comm team.

T'Pol was leading the landing party, along with Reed and Tucker. It had been five minutes since the computers had linked, and they'd ascertained that the alien ship's atmosphere was breathable. As the three transmatted on board the ship, they reorientated themselves for a minutes when they rematerialised. When she did, T'Pol wished she hadn't. The ship smelt terrible, almost like rotting flesh. The ship's interior was dark, oppressive and brown, almost rust coloured. Trip walked over to a console gingerly, and running his scanner over it, found out what the problem had been.

" Looks like they just lost consciousness, but they managed to set their controls for automatic."

T'Pol pointed her beam of light all around her, Reed following suit. " Can you restore the lighting?" She asked him.

Trip Tucker was a gifted engineer, even without the scanner, and it didn't take him long to find the lighting controls. " Yep."

The lights came back on.

Reed recoiled. " Look at the state of them." He hissed.

T'Pol as a Vulcan was trained not to prejudice and make judgements based solely on appearance, but these aliens looked like rotting corpses, and T'Pol only managed to keep control of her emotions. She took out her Vulcan scanner, and she made her own scans.

" Their genetic codes have been badly damaged," she reported.

Trip came over, his face twisted in horror, pity, and revulsion. Ordinarily T'Pol would chide him for that when faced with unknown aliens, but in this case she couldn't say she blamed him, or Mr. Reed.

" What caused it?"

T'Pol shook her head, her mind coming up and discarding options. " There are two logical possibilities," she said, getting up from her crouched position. " First, its a genetic trait, or a natural evolution decrying their species should no longer exist."

" T'Pol, when a lifeforms selected for extinction they don't rot. I'm not just talkin' about life on Earth, but on all the worlds we've explored." Trip said.

" I know, but it is a possibility."

Reed looked at her. " You said there were two possibilities."

" It's a disease, either natural or artifical." She replied.

Reed wondered what kind of twisted species would condemn an alien race to a life like that. The alien he was looking down upon looked like a victim of decomposition. What kind of race would do it if it were artificial? He wondered.

* * *

Phlox was examining the readings. As part of the Interspecies medical exchange, Phlox was familiar with a wide range of medical technologies, but the human's advanced scanners and healing chamber which also diagnosed injuries were wonders of modern medicine. When Humans and Denobulans first met, Phlox had been amazed by how primitive humans were compared to other races, but as time passed he realised that the humans in spite of their many drawbacks were certainly a different species.

Right now Phlox was taken aback by the mystery confounding him. Phlox enjoyed mysteries, but he didn't like it when he was dealing with an alien race mystery. He'd already taken samples from the aliens, and he was examining them. The prognosis didn't look good. The aliens genetic structure was ruined beyond belief, Phlox had never seen a disease like this before, and not even Telurian plague was this bad. Then again Telurian plague didn't consume genetic codes and destroy bodies to this extent.

Phlox had extracted the disease using the matter-energy sampler in the Imaging chamber, and he'd spent an hour examining it in a vacuum chamber, the Denobulan doctor wasn't going to take risks with the virus and cause an epidemic. Phlox started by subjecting the virus to various forms of radiation, but the virus simply absorbed the energy. Phlox gaped in awe and astonishment at how resourceful this little plague was, but he was also horrified. The virus had a built in capacity to absorb and multiply, making its hold on the victim worse. Phlox couldn't help but ask himself how the unfortunate aliens had lasted so long, so he brought up the medical scans on them. He couldn't believe for an instant the aliens had survived so long, so much so that a nasty suspicion had formed in his mind. He read the records - ah, as he'd thought, he thought not exactly in triumph, but in satisfaction for his deduction being right. Phlox had been convinced the aliens would need something, broad spectrum drugs, gene therapies, but the damage to the organs was unbelievable, and so he'd come up with the horrifying deduction that the aliens had simply gone out and stolen organs with different genetic structures, biochemically alter them to suit themselves, and survive a bit longer. That was doable, Phlox conceded, with a bit of work.

Eventually the virus would develop a foothold, but at least it would be held back. It wasn't a cure, but it gave the aliens a chance.

* * *

" I've run their language through the lingual systems, Captain," Hoshi Sato reported, folding her arms. " The aliens are called Vidiians. According to their historical database they were once a peaceful society, dedicated to arts and crafts, teaching, but they have a highly advanced civilisation."

Archer nodded. " What happened to them?"

" Two millenia ago, a plague they call the Phage attacked their people, and it nearly destroyed them. The effects are still present to this day, and it forced them to become a race fighting for survival. They steal organs from other races, implanting them in themselves," Hoshi looked sick as she thought about it, and Trip swore there and then to never show Frankenstein, one of the greatest movies ever, with Hoshi around.

Archer made a face. " What were they doing out here?"

Hoshi shook her head. " I haven't got that far in the database. It's taken a few hours for me just to enter their computer and translate their language. I need time to fully get to grips with it all."

Archer nodded reluctantly, giving Hoshi the chance. " Okay. T'Pol, Malcom, Trip. What did you find from the ship?"

T'Pol went first, " Captain, this species has warp technology comparable to Vulcans, but there are many differences. There seems to be a device that bombards the dilithium when its exhausted with high energy photons."

Archer's eyes widened. One of the problems with warp capable species was the necessity for dilithium, a rare mineral that's value was tripled many times over because of its use in antimatter production. Like many other radioactive minerals, however, it had a finite amount of life, and once a crystal was exhausted, that was it. Archer had heard dozens of theories on crystal recrystalisation, but none of them had ever come to anything.

It was the introduction of hyperspace taps that made Earth ignore the need for dilithium in the first place, but that didn't mean students weren't interested in it. Sometimes dilithium was mined and stockpiled on Earth colonies because they needed antimatter for secondary energy supplies, or simply for experiments involving antimatter.

A working recrystaliser would make the day of many scientists specialising in antimatter.

" Have you downloaded the plans for it?" He asked Trip.

" Aye, sir."

Archer nodded, turning to Trip fully. " What about you? What did you think of the ship itself?"

Trip nodded, " Very high grade of technology, comparable perhaps to the Trill or even the Vulcans, and the recystalising matrix is perhaps its best feature. I've downloaded the engineering database."

Hoshi hid a sigh at the amount of work mounting up. T'Pol didn't like the aquisitive nature of the Starfleet crew.

Malcom held out an object. It was a small black bow with two long prongs. There was a control pad built into it. Archer took it from his hand, weighing it in his one hand before examining it more properly. " What is it?"

" I thought it might be a weapon at first, but when I got it back on board I found that the device is more than a weapon. It seems to be combined body, DNA scanner, weapon and scanner. This thing puts our scanners to shame, sir. We can scan DNA, but that's on a small section of our scanner's capacity, this thing only needs to send out a beam of energy and then this thing knows the location and function of every organ in a body, right down to the genetic structure."

Archer blew out a breath, he'd seen the aliens brought on board, seeing the condition they were in. " What were they doing out here?"

Reed sighed. " I think I've found a clue, " He said, tapping out a command into the situation table. Images taken from Malcom Reed's scanner showed the senior staff jars filled with liquid holding various and different coloured and shaped organs and body tissue.

" They were picking up organs from various races." Reed replied.

Archer nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

" What've you learnt about our guests so far?" Archer asked Phlox when the captain entered sickbay.

The Denobulan looked up from his work. " I was wondering when you would ask that. These aliens should live. I've removed some of their DNA, and found its completely distorted. Their organs come from different races, and are biochemically altered to adapt to the genetic structure of the Vidiians. I've asked for Ensign Sato to send down a copy of their database so then I can understand their problem better."

" From what we've learnt about the Vidiians they were attacked by this disease suddenly, and they've spent centuries trying to cure it."

Phlox nodded sadly, " They've failed each time. I've also genetically analysed their organs. One of them has had his heart for 3 years, but the disease is adapting to the coding of the heart and is slowly destroying it, requiring a replacement soon. Another one has a liver that's only been genetically adapted 3 weeks ago."

Archer sighed, wondering how any race would stand this sort of life. Phlox then decided to drop the revelation, " Captain, I've been studying the disease, and I've come to the conclusion its artificial."

Archer couldn't believe his ears, " You mean someone developed it deliberately? Why?"

Phlox nodded thoughtfully, " There are two possibilities. Firstly, its a war with an enemy, but who? The Vidiians aren't a warlike people, and their technology's more than a match for dozens of races, besides who would use such an elaborate and slow acting disease? An enemy would develop a biological weapon to work instantly, not gradually, and the Vidiians have been suffering from the Phage for 2,000 years. The second possibility's simple; scientific research."

Archer shook his head, " But why would anyone do it? It's..." Archer trailed off, but Phlox completed his sentence for him.

" Inhuman?" Phlox said. " Captain, need I remind you we're in the delta quadrant, in the midst of dozens of unknown alien lifeforms. Any of them could be scientists of a sort, and they could use a different time table to what humans may. You have to stop thinking on such a limited scale."

Archer bristled at that. The problem with aliens in the Alpha quadrant was that they looked down on humans because of their lack of thought, but Archer knew Phlox was right.

" Do you have any evidence?" Archer asked, changing the subject.

Phlox nodded, " The virus adapts too quickly, I've subjected it to various forms of radiation, mixed it with DNA codings, and the virus mixes with it, destroying it as it goes. The virus is also programmed to seek out undamaged DNA, and destroy it. That's simple enough, and the protein sequences are artificial."

" Someone created this virus and deliberately infected an entire race?" Admiral Forrest asked in disbelief. Archer nodded, sitting in his ready room. It was dark, fitting really because of his mood. " That's what Phlox says. He's examined it and subjected it to various kinds of radiation. It adapts too quickly, and the protein sequences he says adapts and replicates on any genetic material. Its a mess, Admiral. I've seen these aliens for myself, and they look like corpses with rotting skin."

Forrest shook his head, " How're they doing?"

Archer sighed, " Phlox has them in one of the medical laboratories, undergoing examination. He's trying some creativity to try and reverse it all. Phlox is sending the data back to Starfleet medical and the Vulcan medical service, and the Denobulan genetic engineering doctorate. He wants other practitioners to learn as much about the Phage, which is the name of the virus, and try and find a way to cure and give immunity to it." Archer leant forward. " Facility 4 may need to be informed."

Forrest jumped at the name, and now he saw why Archer was putting this message on a priority one gold channel. " I'll see what I can do." Forrest promised, sounding like the facility wouldn't help, but they both knew they would. Facility 4 were always interested in anything, and besides their dimensional experiments had brought ships from other realities and times to their own reality, some of them with technologies thousands of centuries ahead of that of Earth of the 22nd century.

Phlox was standing by the imaging chamber when Archer walked inside. " Your message sounded urgent."

The Denobulan doctor turned around, " Yes, I've been reviewing the Vidiian database and I've found half of the things I've wanted to try have been tried by them. So I started thinking, and I realised that maybe I should look on this from an engineering standpoint."

Archer frowned at him, and Phlox shrugged, " I know, as a doctor I should by using medicine, but I couldn't help it. I exposed samples of the Phage inside the imaging chamber to various kinds of radiation, and I've found that hyperspace radiation from this ship can stop the Phage from adapting to the new treatments. I then exposed the various samples to new kinds of vaccines from Klingon DNA to produce healthy cells. My earlier tests show that its possible to treat the phage, but my work needed checking over before I can use it properly."

Archer was caught with the possibilities. One of Starfleet's top priorities was to secure allies for their expansion of knowledge, and if they aided the Vidiians, then they would get such an ally. Or at least Archer hoped so.

" What about immunity from the disease, can this process do that?"

" The Klingon DNA inside the serum is resistant to the Phage from the beginning, Captain, but since the Phage needs to be weakened before it can be truly erradicated then it can provide immunity. The rest is up to the Vidiians. They'll have to study the principle, and find ways of becoming more immune by themselves. All I can do is provide the pretext."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hyperspace - Part 2.**

**The Cure for the Phage.**

* * *

Archer stood with Phlox as the imaging chamber in sickbay worked on the Vidiian inside. Starfleet Command had authorised the go ahead for curing the Vidiians, it was for some very good reasons. The Delta Quadrant was a big place, and although they had met some friendly aliens, there were still those that were hostile. Earth may have the advantage of hyperdrive, but they needed to make connections in other galaxies, and if they had to cure an entire species of a disease to do it then so be it, and there was nothing the Vulcans could do about it. The Vulcans had protested about the cure, but even they conceded that logically the Vidiians would become an ally.

From what they already knew about the Vidiians, they were a peaceful race, and they had resorted to harvesting races and individuals out of necessity, but Starfleet were hoping that when they witnessed the cure they would willingly become an ally of Earth, and provide valuable information about the rest of this galaxy and the species that lived in it. First Contacts were messy things, and Archer had witnessed many of them deteriorate, and even the Vulcans had their history of bad first contacts.

Finally the chamber stopped humming, and it opened up automatically. The alien was unconscious, but if Archer did not know any better then he would assume this was a different alien. The Vidiians appeared to be human, except for the gentle ridge, not unlike that of a Klingon's cranial ridge, except for the fact the Klingon ridges made them appear monstrous, but like the Vulcans whose ears made them appear elvish, the Vidiian ridge was soft and fetching.

The skin was soft, softer than that of humans, and it was silky compared to humans. The hair was dark.

Archer stepped out of the way for Phlox to scan the Vidiian. " He appears healthy." The Doctor said.

" Will the disease make a comeback?" That was something Archer and Command were afraid of, that the cure would be a waste of time.

Phlox considered. He had checked on the cure and the chance of relapse many times, and he understood his captain's fears, but he was convinced, as were the Vulcan, Starfleet medical scientists, and Denobulan medical corps that the cure was permanent.

" Honestly, I hope not, but the tests seem to be encouraging." When Phlox saw the captain's face, he carried on. " Captain, my people would never have developed this cure if we did not guarantee its success."

Archer nodded, changing the subject. " Wake him up."

Phlox pressed the hypospray against the neck of the Vidiian, and the resulting hiss echoed around the silent room. The Vidiians' eyes stirred, and Phlox comfortingly pressed his hands against the chest. " Easy, you've been in a coma for a long time."

The Vidiian made a sign, the universal sign for water, and Archer went to get some from the water cooler in the room. The Vidiian took the water from the captain, and took a long gulp, gasping in relief as his throat became less parched. The Vidiian's eyes were narrowed, but they widened comically when he took in the colour of his skin. The Vidiian started shaking when he ran his fingers over his face. " Is there a mirror?" He asked.

Archer nodded, and went to get it. Phlox stood by the bed, there was still a chance that the Vidiian would suffer from a heartattack when he saw his face healthy again for the first time in...well, ever.

The Vidiian took the mirror, and after a long silence, he looked up. " What did you do to me?" he asked, his voice wasn't angry. It looked more like he believed honestly he was dreaming.

" We cured you, using a process we devised." Phlox replied.

The alien shook his head, not taking his eyes off the unblemished skin of his hands. There wasn't a trace of cellular degeneration at all. " You don't understand, we've tried everything to cure the Phage, rewriting our genetic codes, create retroviruses to reverse the damage, but all we've been able to do is slow it down. We have to resort to stealing organs from other races and biochemically bonding them to our genetic codes. In the end, they rot like gangrene. How did you do it?"

It took Phlox over 2 hours to explain and reexplain the process to the Vidiian, with the alien asking question after question. No matter what Phlox answered, the Vidiian would always respond with another question. Phlox realised that the Vidiians' knowledge of genetics, biochemistry and medicine was significantly advanced, maybe more advanced than the knowledge of the Denobulans, who had always prided themselves on their knowledge of medicine.

Later on Phlox met with Archer and T'Pol in the captain's ready room. " Our guest's asking many questions about what I did, but," Phlox shrugged, taking it all in stride, " he certainly seems healthy enough."

" Is there any chance of a relapse of the disease?" T'Pol asked, ever the questioner and sceptic.

" None whatsoever, Subcommander." Phlox smiled at her.

* * *

In the 2 months that followed the curing of the Vidiian crew, the aliens had been brimming with gratitude, and inspite of the worries of a relapse their health remained. In those months, the Enterprise crew spent their time curing the Vidiian population and ridding them of the Phage forever, making them healthy once more, whilst they also learnt more about the Vidiians culture on the side.

The more artistic crew members of Enteprise could not help but be amazed by how beautiful the artwork and sculptures of the Vidiians were, and they excitedly opened up to the Vidiians, forgetting the gulfs between their cultures. It wasn't all easy for the Vidiians, they may have been cured of the ravages of their disease, and the cure was spread quickly throughout Vidiian space to ships, outposts and colonies. For too many centuries, the Vidiians had changed from a peaceful and generally pacifistic race into a race of murderous predators who preyed on other races for their body parts and tissues for medical research. Not many of those same races were forgiving to the Vidiians, and even Jonathan Archer kept out of it, seeing it as an interal matter.

The Vidiians were disturbed, understandably, when they were informed by their new found friends the Phage wasn't an accident, but in fact deliberate. Whoever did it was a mystery, as the Vidiians had been a peaceful and benevolent race.


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm sorry its taken me so long to update my story, but I've got so many to do its hard to keep up, and I've got the real world to deal with. If I could live in fandom I would, but I have to make a living.**

**Hyperspace Part 2.**

**The 37s, Jump into the atmosphere.**

* * *

So far Jonathan Archer's mission to explore the Delta Quadrant was proceeding as planned, they'd made some friends and enemies, and the Vidiians had formally contacted Earth to commend the Enterprise crew for their help. Negotiations to use Vidiian space to launch further exploration teams into the Delta Quadrant were proceeding well from what Archer had heard. Personally he hoped it went well, with the Vidiians backing them up and allowing them to study their culture, Earth would soon rise to a level of knowledge even the Vulcans had never before attained.

In the meantime Archer had plenty of space to explore. When they encountered another Earth ship, they would exchange information before moving on to another sector.

Subcommander T'Pol hated to admit it, even under her Vulcan pride and calm, but her logic had to admit she was impressed by how the humans were taking the logical approach into exploring the galaxy. In just under twenty years Starfleet had charted, catalogued and analysed 60 times more cultural and astrometic data than her people had in the last 3 centuries.

It was enough to make the usually stoic Vulcan jealous, but she wasn't. The humans were just naturally a very thorough race. They were honest researchers, they never treated anything as trivial or irrelevant. They tried it all. At the moment, however, she was confused. The confusion was shared by her captain.

" Rust, in the vacuum of space?" Archer asked, moving around the bridge to her station. Leaning over her, Archer was able to see it for himself. The move was typical of Archer, and T'Pol had once resented it, but humans had the problem of believing something with their own eyes. It wasn't their fault.

Archer frowned at the readings. " High levels of ferric oxide. Corroded iron particles. " He shook his head before looking around the bridge, he asked rhetorically. " Could someone tell me how iron could rust without oxygen?" Not expecting an answer, the captain's eyes turned to Mr Mayweather.

" Travis, alter our course to follow that trail of rust."

" Aye sir."

It didn't take them long to get there, when T'Pol, who was watching the science monitors added another surprise, one that made as little sense as the discovery of rust had. " Captain, I'm picking up traces of hydrocarbons in the rust. They are complex. Benzene, ethylene, acetylene..."

Tucker, who'd just appeared from the turbolift, overheard this when the turbolift door closed. " Sounds like gasoline to me," he remarked.

Archer frowned. " A fuel from the 20th-21st centuries, rust in space...is there anything else out there that's a surprise for today?"

" More to the point, sir, how did it get out here?" Reed asked, then his station picked something up. " I think we're about to find out. Sensors are picking up the source of the rust and hydrocarbons."

" On screen."

The starfield on the screen changed slightly, but the source was so small they couldn't see it. " Magnify." The screen changed again, this time showing a red truck of the like they hadn't seen outside of museums.

* * *

Transporting the truck to the cargo bay wasn't the difficult part, it was easy. A team was going over the truck by the time Archer arrived, Tucker following close behind. One of the team hurried over to them, holding out a padd. " I've been trying to track the trucks registration through the uplink with the historical computers back home, sir. The only problem is some vehicles weren't registered with licence holders, and some of the records were lost in the wars of the 21st century."

Archer nodded, pleased by this crewman's attention to detail. " Well at least its a start. Tell us about it." Walking over to the truck with Trip, the crewman followed, explaining about it.

" Its a 1936 Ford, a ground vehicle used in the 20th century. The engine is apparently new, none of the parts were badly worn on our first scans, and there's still fuel in its tank. I'd say it had been used about a year before it ended up, well, here." The crewman was still talking as his captain went around the antique. " We've done a complete scan of it. There's an almost untraceable E / M signature in the chassis and the rest of it, which suggests it was transported either to a ship or a planet."

" That would explain how it got out here," Tucker said more to himself.

The crewman nodded. " Smell it, we didn't know what it was, but there were traces of ammonium, methane, and potassium nitrate," he said.

Archer smelt it, and nodded. " Horse manure."

" There's also dirt around the wheels," the crewman agreed. " Looks like this truck belonged to a farmer or someone who lived in a rural area. That would explain the manure, unless of course the owner liked carrying horse manure around. The wheels are caked in it."

Trip, being the engineer he was, had already taken a long and admiring look at the engine, and had determined it was still workable. He got inside the drivers seat. Antique vehicles had been a hobby of his for as long as he could remember, and it didn't take him long to remember how to actually start the engine. After coughing back into life, the engine let out a terrible smell from the exhaust, making one or two crewmen choke. " We should vent this room, to let in some air."

Archer came over. " Trip, next time, please warn us."

Trip smirked sheepishly. " Sorry."

He found the radio, and with an impish impulse, he turned it on. " Wow, that's not what I expected." A beeping pulse had just come from the set.

" Sounds like a message," Archer remarked. Trip frowned, and tweaked the controls. A series of beeps came from the set. " Not random interference," Trip remarked. " Sounds like one of them morse code movies, ya know in those world war 2 movies?"

" Yeah, Trip. I got that."

Grabbing a scanner, Trip ran the noise through the ships computer. He looked up from the results. " Its an ancient Earth distress call known as an SOS."

* * *

Hoshi Sato had no trouble tracking the SOS signal. Her communications station was designed to pick up something as crude as smoke signals, so this was easy. It was unexpected as well.

" I've found the source of the SOS. Its coming from a planet in a star system bearing 310, mark 215."

" Mr Mayweather, lay in a course." To Hoshi, the captain asked pointedly. " Why didn't we pick this signal up earlier?"

Hoshi shrugged apologetically. " We don't normally monitor this frequency. Besides, we monitor faster than light signals, this one travels merely at the speed of light. We don't actively pick up radio signals, not unless we deliberately look for them."

That made sense for Archer. In the early days Earth had transmitted radio signals into space because they had no other way of attracting attention, and even to this day none of those messages, of peace, of wanting someone to drop in and prove to humans aliens existed, it just didn't happen because people were looking for faster than light communications. It took Zefram Cochrane's hyperdrive engine to send up the flare.

" Course laid in," Travis reported.

Archer sat down in his chair before giving the order. " Maximum hyperdrive. Engage."

When Enterprise came out of hyperdrive, Archer turned his heads to his science officer. " Full scan, T'Pol."

T'Pol ran the sensor scans, then looked up. " The signal is coming from the third planet in the system, Captain. Its a class L world, oxygen-argo atmosphere. There's a great deal of atmospheric interference in the upper atmosphere levels. I can't get any clear readings."

Archer nodded, thinking about how they were going to investigate the mystery if they couldn't get there. An idea came to mind, but he wanted to be sure before he attempted it. " Can you track the source of the call?"

" Yes," T'Pol replied a moment later. " It's coming from a continent in the Northern hemisphere."

Trip looked over at Archer. " No way we can transport through the interference, even with our level of transporters. We try, and it would be like sending a lump of cheese through a grater. Shuttles are also out, the atmosphere is charged with trinimbic turbulence. Our shuttles wouldn't navigate the currents."

Archer looked down thoughtfully, then looked at Trip. " Trip, do you remember that seminar back at Starfleet about jumping from space into an atmosphere?"

At once Trip saw where his friend was going with this. " Jon, that's theory. Jumping into a planet like Earth or Vulcan, that's one thing, but how about this atmosphere? The interference could cause damage to our hyperdrive engines. And anyway, what then? We can't land the ship."

" We won't have to," Archer smiled. " We can hover above the ground, and we can transport down to the surface in safety."

Seeing he wasn't going to get anywhere by arguing, Trip left the bridge. " I'll be in engineering."

When he'd left, Archer turned to Reed. " Blue alert, Mr Reed."

The bridge lighting darkened into a blue light.

They were in condition blue.

* * *

Trips worries about the jump were wrong, Enterprise managed to jump through the interference, like a whale diving to avoid a surface fire. If they'd tried landing the ship through the atmosphere, the turbulence would've rocked the ship, but for the advanced hyperdrive engine, the jump meant they missed it.

Hovering above the surface of the planet, Enterpise was no more than 2 kilometres from the distress call source.

" Lovely day." Archer remarked. Indeed it was. After that landing, no one would ever believe that they'd arrived in this planet's equalent of Cape horn.

Sato checked her scanner. It wasn't everyday they explored a new world, and this signal had fascinated her, so she'd come along. She also wanted to stretch her legs. " I've locked onto the source of the distress signal. Its 1.5 km, bearing of 246."

T'Pol was also checking her own Vulcan scanner. " There's a high concentration of Trianium particles. Bearing 225, a little over a kilometre away. Its energy levels read it as a power source of some kind."

" Two teams," Archer ordered. " TPol, you lead your team to the power source and investigate. I'll take my team and check out the distress signal. Hoshi, Trip, you're with me."

It was like Earth, the planet. It was incredibly peaceful. And quiet. There was no evidence anyone had come here. No signs of civilisation, except for that power source and the mysterious distress signal. Walking down a steep hill overlooking a valley, Archer stopped. He couldn't believe it. " Oh, my god."

In the valley was a plane, an old fashioned plane from Earth, the 1930s. Its silver hull reflecting the light of the sun, but Archer's eyes took in its streamlined shape. This was the precursor to ships like Enterprise.

Trip whistled appreciately. " Aluminium alloy hull. Beautiful."

Hoshi had another appreciation. " The distress signal is coming from inside."

Opening up the plane was like entering a museum, or that time portal, the Guardian of Forever. Archer ran his eyes over the old fashioned controls and dials, imagining how it must have felt in the point in time when planes like this were considered marvels of the age.

" I've found it," Hoshi's voice broke through his thoughts. " The AM transmitters broadcasting the SOS."

Something occurred to Archer. " What about the power source? Somehow I doubt the battery has run for the last hundred years or so."

Galvanised by the realisation her captain was right, Hoshi set to work to find out what it was. It didn't take her long. Two leads led away from the controls, to the leg room for the pilot on the left, to a small red cube that pulsated. " Captain, there's a fusion based generator. Its alien, and its linked to the AM transmitter."

Archers communicator chirped. Flipping it open, T'Pol's voice came from it. " T'Pol to Archer. We've discovered the source of the Trianium. Its some sort of mine shaft. I'd like to bring down another security detachment before we go inside."

Archer nodded approvingly though the Vulcan couldn't see it. " Good idea. I'll join you. Archer out." Closing the communicator, he turned to Trip.

" Stay here, and analyse the alien generator. Then see what you can find out about the SOS. Someone left it on, they may still be here."

As Archer left, he didn't notice the gray dressed figure watching from above.

* * *

By the time Archer joined her, T'Pol had the security detachment waiting, each one carrying torches. " There's a fusion based generator up ahead." T'Pol reported after two minutes of walking through the dark cave.

Archer nodded, " The generator powering the AM transmitter was also fusion based. We'll compare the two when we get back to Enterprise." He decided.

Their scanners led them down another passageway, to a small set of steps leading inside a bronze coloured metal chamber. It was well lighted, and the Starfleet officers had no trouble turning their torch beams off. Archer couldn't believe it when he saw the lines of cubicles covered by misted glass or plastic.

" This appears to resemble a cryostasis chamber." T'Pol reported.

" How many bodies are there here?"

T'Pol checked. " Eight. The equipment is still functioning, and there are definite signs this chamber is well maintained, components checked and removed every now and then."

Reed was ever the pragmatist. " That means there are people on this planet."

Archer went over to one of the chambers, the shadow of someone around his height inside, imposing. With his sleeve, Archer wiped it, and found himself looking at an Oriental man wearing an old fashioned military uniform. " Human, from the clothes he'd from the same era as the vehicle and the aircraft we've found."

T'Pol held up her scanner. " Lifesigns are minimal, but he's still alive."

Stunned a human from the 1930s was alive, on an alien world, Archer checked the other cubicles. Reed reported, " According to our readings, there are five other stasis chambers nearby. No lifesigns in any of them."

Archer picked the chamber on the Oriental man's left, but on Archer's right. " A woman," he commented, gazing at the cropped hair of an attractive woman inside. " She's wearing a leather jacket, with a badge with a pair of gold wings. There's a name tag on it. A. Earhart." Gaping, Archer swung round. " Amelia Earhart."


	6. Chapter 6

**Hyperspace.**

**Finale.**

Jonathan Archer stood on top of a hill overlooking the landing site of the Enterprise, but also giving a fantastic view of the surrounding landscape of the planet.

It had been an amazing three days since the discovery and later revival of Amelia Earhart, and the other people in those stasis chambers. Understandably disoriented, and still believing they were on Earth, the Starfleet officers - Archer, Trip, Travis, T'Pol, though technically she wasn't in Starfleet, and Elizabeth Cutler - had quickly had the problem with telling the stunned humans of where they were and what was happening. None of them had believed them, naturally, even with the proof in front of them. Earhart's navigator had lost his patience and pulled a gun on them, making them wish they'd bothered to search all the humans apart from the Japanese soldier who'd had a weapon visibly placed on his person. For an hour the Starfleet officers had been held prisoner, and even revealing T'Pol's Vulcan ears had been taken as a human experiment gone wrong.

Archer had only just managed to persuade Earhart to listen to them, and the famous pilot had begun to believe them after she'd examined some of their technology, much to her navigator's consternation. Luckily he hadn't been speaking for everyone, quite a few of the other human captives had wanted to leave and get some fresh air and sunlight.

It was when they'd left the cave they'd been locked in for centuries did their troubles really begin. They were attacked, but the Starfleet officers had managed to hold them off as Archer and T'Pol had sneaked up behind the attackers. After stunning one, the others were outgunned by the superior weapons.

The attackers had been dressed in grey militaristic uniforms, carrying simple projectile weapons. After a few moments the attackers had asked them if they were an alien race called the Briori, and Archer had said they were humans. Shocked, the attackers removed their masks/helmets, and showed they were humans themselves.

Slaves.

Archer's brow furrowed as the humans on this planet had told them, once onboard Enterprise so their mutual wounded - one of the attackers and Earhart's navigator had been injured, but Phlox had managed to heal them - could be taken care of in a safe environment. Once on the ship and in his comfort zone, Archer had managed to get some straight answers, though he'd had to explain to the angry leader of the attackers the human group Earhart was apart of were in fact in suspended animation. The leader had been surprised. It had clearly never occurred to them, even with the advanced technology they'd stolen from the Briori if they'd simply revived the ' 37s' as they called the group then they wouldn't have been left there for so long.

The Briori had brought the humans from Earth after travelling the galaxy looking for suitable slaves, discounting the Vulcans and Klingons, who were already fundamentally advanced and powerful enough to retaliate, and hundreds of humans had been brought here. Forced to labour for them, the humans yearned for a chance to become free. A few years later they'd gotten their wish.

After the last group of humans - the 37s, indicating the year of capture, had been brought to the planet, that was when the oppressed were given their chance, and they shook off the bonds of slavery. The Briori were wiped out, much of their technology was captured, and the humans survived. They lived in constant fear of being reconquered by the Briori because they had no way of telling if they'd survived.

In an act of stupidity the rebels in their enthusiasm had destroyed the ships the Briori had used to bring them to the planet, so they were stranded. They'd been living here for years, living in beautiful cities.

" Captain," a slightly breathless voice announced the presence of Amelia Earhart.

Archer turned, smiling at her warmly. " How's it going?"

Earhart smiled back at him. Although she hadn't been sure of him at first, Earhart could see the future of exploration was alive and kicking in the latest generation. It was the thrill of seeing what was on the other side of the sun which was what she wanted to talk to him about.

" The rest of us, the 37s," she said the term uneasily since she didn't like the sound of her and her party being regressed to a mere number, " have decided to stay on the planet."

Archer's smile became one of understanding. Since their revival, the humans in the stasis chambers had been exposed to technology on the planet and on Enterprise beyond their understanding. There was also the matter of how the crew on the ship interracted without the petty grievances and prejudices associated with the 20th century. It was one thing to be at war, or in a political argument one day, and then go to sleep before waking up and then sleeping for centuries unaware of the changes going on back home.

The 37s and the humans on this planet had their eyes opened with Enterprise's arrival. For too long none of the humans on this planet had dreamt of venturing above the clouds of this planet simply because they couldn't, but also because of their fear of being enslaved again by the Briori. Archer had already hinted to the leaders of the human community here now Earth was aware of their existence, there was a possibility of more travellers from Earth coming through hyperspace to land and settle on the planet.

Archer had sweetened it with the promise Earth was now advanced and powerful enough to protect their people from being conquered again. He'd also said they could travel home to Earth if they wished. The reaction to that promise had been particularly interesting to watch; these people had heard stories of Earth all their lives, but they'd long since lost any hope of actually seeing it.

Enterprise had changed that.

Archer's report on the whole incident here only needed one or two amendments, especially Amelia Earharts decision. The Captain had a good idea why Earhart wanted to stay.

This was a whole planet, a new world. The people who lived here had virtually no knowledge of the rest of the planet, but this amazing woman in front of him could change all that.

" I understand," Archer replied.

Earhart carried on. " Its what's not knowing what is around you that I live for. I wanted to see Earth, and I did. Now I doubt I'd recognise it, but here..." A look appeared in her eyes, a look Archer associated with himself.

Desire for adventure.

" When we travelled to those cities Captain, I asked around about the planet. But no one really knows what's out there. There are probably whole new continents, islands, seas the people here don't even know about."

Realistically Archer knew when Starfleet finally got to send teams of surveyers to this planet, a proper team consisting on naturalists, geologists, and mineralogists, Earhart would be the sole explorer on this world.

" It'll take time for Earth and Starfleet to send teams to this planet to do a proper survey here, but it will be done. But if there was already an explorer on this planet, it will help the teams when they arrive..." Archer said, voicing his thoughts, and trailing off when Earhart gave him a massive smile.

" It'll be a pleasure." Amelia Earhart and Captain Archer, two explorers from two totally different backgrounds and histories, but both explorers with the same passion, shook hands.

**There ends the story. I'm sorry its taken so long, but I've done it.**


End file.
